Germans to probe WestLB board over Saunders affair

Pressure to go mounts on WestLB's 'femme fatale' as the banks lending is investigated

AMONG the politicians who run Germany's wealthiest state she has become known as Jürgen Sengera's femme fatale — the glamorous blonde who has dragged the state-owned WestLB bank into disarray.

Robin Saunders, head of the bank's principal-finance unit in London, has been largely blamed by the Germans for blunders that led to a £297m provision relating to a loan to Boxclever, the television-rental firm.

But after a report into the provision by Bafin, Germany's financial regulator, it is becoming clear that responsibility for corporate lending and the way Saunders's unit was run, went right to the heart of the bank.

Now Germany's public prosecutor is to launch an investigation to determine whether there is evidence of criminal breach of trust. This will focus on the extent to which the board exercised proper control. Last week Sengera, WestLB's chairman, paid the price for the provision, which contributed to group losses of €1.67